• Back When We Were Grownups

  • By: Anne Tyler
  • Narrated by: Blair Brown
  • Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
  • 3.6 out of 5 stars (256 ratings)

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Back When We Were Grownups  By  cover art

Back When We Were Grownups

By: Anne Tyler
Narrated by: Blair Brown
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Publisher's summary

"Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered that she had turned into the wrong person." So Anne Tyler opens this irresistible novel.

The woman is Rebecca Davitch, a 53-year-old grandmother. Is she an imposter in her own life? she asks herself. Is it indeed her own life? Or is it someone else's?

On the surface, Beck, as she is known, is outgoing, joyous, a natural celebrator. Giving parties is her vocation - something she slipped into even before finishing college, when Joe Davitch spotted her at an engagement party in his family's crumbling 19th-century Baltimore row house, where giving parties was the family business. What caught his fancy was that she seemed to be having such a wonderful time. Soon this large-spirited older man, a divorcé with three little girls, swept her into his orbit, and before she knew it she was embracing his extended family plus a child of their own.

Now, some 30 years later Rebecca is caught unaware by the question of who she really is. How she answers it - how she tries to recover her girlhood self, that dignified grownup she had once been - is the story told in this beguiling, searching, and deeply moving novel. As always with Anne Tyler's novels, once we enter her world it is hard to leave. But in Back When We Were Grownups she so sharpens our perceptions and awakens so many untapped feelings that we come away not only refreshed, but also infinitely wiser.

©2001 Anne Tyler (P)2001 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"[Tyler's] feel for character is so keen that even hardened metafictionalists...are reduced to the role of helpless gossips, swapping avid hunches about the possible fates of the characters. You're involved before you even noticed you were paying attention." (The New Yorker)

What listeners say about Back When We Were Grownups

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful characters

As always, Anne Tyler delivers an interesting story with wonderful, quirky characters. She shows life as it is lived--full of self-doubt, unintentional side-trips and lots of ups and downs. You leave an Anne Tyler book, though, realizing that ordinary lives can be extraordinary if people live consciously. Don't read it for the plot (though that is great, too)--read it for the characters.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Excellent, Interesting Context

This has been one of my most favorite Audible fictional titles. Who of us hasn't woken up sometime wondering--How did I get here? What am I doing? One decision 20-30-40 years ago from some dumb teenager who didn't have a clue---and here I am. I know some call it mid-life crisis.
This was interesting, thought-provoking, while remaining entertaining and a good read. Perhaps not quite as good as Saint Maybe but a close second.
For those who have started this book keep listening--the old man's comments near the end are worth the whole jouney in themselves!

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Our true selves are never known

I very rarely ever re-listen to a fiction book. My only exception so far have been this book and another Anne Tyler book, "The Accidental Tourist".

Really good fiction makes one see beyond the plot and allows one to feel the meaning of a universal truth. Everyone needs to understand fiction for themselves, but I know why I like this book so much. The author understands how we get our purpose in life and that (at least for me) that the structure of the world is in place before we enter it and we have to accept that structure.

Our true selves are never known (that's a line form the book). We are thrown into the world and for us to make sense of our understanding about our own understanding we must accept our presence-at-hand and make sense of our worldliness (purpose) by realizing that our purpose comes about by understanding the whole by looking at the pieces we interact with.

Or perhaps I'm just reading something into the story the author never intended. Regardless, the book can be an entertaining listen.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

I was disappointed

I was looking forward to some conclusion, some respect for the character of Rebecca. I never leave reviews but I'm just coming away from this sad.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Mid-life crisis

This is just a story about a woman having a mid-life crisis. Nothing dramatic ever happens as she works her way through it. Somehow it manages to be entertaining probably because of the colorful charaters.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Really Great 'Slice of Life' Story

Enjoyed the story and the narration. Definitely would recommend this. Ann Tyler at her best.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Depressing

I had hoped this 50 something character would bring me hope. Hope that life over 50 is not all down hill but it did not. She was pathetic from Start to finish. She treated people badly and rarely ever spoke up for herself. Sorry I put the time and credit into it.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Reader was fantastic, the story itself is lacking

The narrator was fantastic. The story is terrible. It’s written like a book from the mid 1800’s but it turned out to be set in 1999! It’s about a whiney 50 year old who hates her life that she created. Generally a boring, whiney, and occasionally racist book.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

so boring

What was most disappointing about Anne Tyler???s story?

I couldn't make it through the first chapter. Who wants to listen to someone's inner thoughts about their daily "to do" list? It's bad enough to have your own inner though to-do list... Sorry, Anne Tyler. I was giving you a second try after reading an article that made me think I would really like you as a person. Just not my type of book... and the narrator's voice was so annoying on this book. Like listening to a fussy aunt who is stuck in the 50's, trying to always do what society wants from her, rather than listening to someone's real and interesting inside thoughts.

Would you be willing to try another one of Blair Brown???s performances?

No

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Boredom. Wishing I hadn't used my credit on this book.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Unusual story, great read

What did you love best about Back When We Were Grownups?

A non-traditional plot with a complicated family that Tyler somehow made interesting and diverse.

What about Blair Brown’s performance did you like?

Brown gets nuances in her acting and narration - she puts the irony where it belongs; stands back when she should.

If you could rename Back When We Were Grownups, what would you call it?

I don't know, but this wouldn't be the title.

Any additional comments?

Tyler is a master and this book so fresh and unusual - loved it.

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1 person found this helpful